


falling slow for you

by zenelly



Series: Leopika Week 2018 [4]
Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, M/M, Pre-Slash, alien!kurapika, look we're all here to have a good time, pilot!leorio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-07 23:58:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15918867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenelly/pseuds/zenelly
Summary: For Leopika Week 2018, Day 4 - Space AU!The bay is quiet and dark. Leorio leans his head out over the balcony into his cargo hold, surveying the darkness below before he sits down, letting his legs dangle.“See, really, I thought we had gotten past the part where you tried to kill me if I came by to say hello,” he says.





	falling slow for you

**Author's Note:**

> There is a lot going on in the background of this, and it's really more preslash than it is anything else, but it's also fun, so there's that.
> 
> Title from "Manta Rays" by Ludo

The gravity engine makes an ever-present hum that fills Leorio’s ears as he makes his way to the bowels of his ship. Everything’s running on autopilot for now, which is good because Leorio’s arm, tender and throbbing, means he’s in no condition to be piloting currently. Hopefully, they’ll get through this bit of space without catching anyone’s attention.

It would be best, after all, if his guest remained undisturbed.

Not that they couldn’t take care of themselves, Leorio thinks, rubbing his arm again. Leorio slaps his hand on the biolock to access the cargo bay, wincing when the movement jars his healing flesh. Okay, okay, more careful. The bay is quiet and dark. Leorio leans his head out over the balcony into his cargo hold, surveying the darkness below before he sits down, letting his legs dangle.

“See, really, I thought we had gotten past the part where you tried to kill me if I came by to say hello,” he says.

Beneath him, there is a rasping crackle. Something approaching speech, and something Leorio has a sneaking suspicion is just a language his translator doesn’t know. Damn thing’s a few cycles out of date and he can only update it so many times before its software starts crashing, and Leorio _really_ doesn’t like bugging Senritsu to update his tech.

The other option is that it’s a language that the translator just doesn’t know, _can’t_ know, and honestly, Leorio has a sneaking suspicion that might be the case.

“Or, is killing someone _how_ you say hello?” he tries, when nothing more seems like it’s coming forth. “Because if it is, I managed to avoid it the first time, and I’d like to keep avoiding it if I can. So if I did something to make you angry, I’d like to apologize for it properly. Can you come out? We can talk.”

Nothing happens.

Leorio scowls. “C’mon, Kurapika.”

There’s a flicker of light, red and gold and blue rapidly pulsing. Leorio looks down at the illuminated form, catching the red around their eyes and the blue and gold markings visible like this through their clothes. The bioluminescence has to mean something, Leorio postulates, but what exactly it means isn’t something his guest has been willing to share so far, so Leorio’s mostly just making conjecture.

(What, it gets lonely out here in space, a single, lone blockade runner all on his own. He’s been doing his research on all the species he’s run into so far. It’s just that, this guest is nothing like anyone he’s ever seen before.)

“You called me sweetheart,” Kurapika says. Their voice is all wrong, emphasis and breath in the wrong places, but it’s more Common than they have been willing to use for the past few hours, so Leorio will call it a victory.

Leorio winces. “Is that an insult? To you, your people?”

“Demeaning.”

Interesting. Leorio scrubs at the back of his neck “I’m sorry. It’s a form of endearment for humans. I meant no harm. I was trying to be friendly, but I’ll back off.”

There’s another crackle, another pulse of light, a different pattern. Then, slowly, Kurapika begins to glow. This is, as Leorio is given to understand, their natural state, with the gentle blues and golds lit up faintly on their body. Being blacked out is stealthy, meant to keep them safe. Red is universally the sign for danger, located only around their eyes and a single dot behind their ear. From the distance separating them, Leorio can see Kurapika turn his statement over and blink, nictitating membrane flicking across their eyes and back again. “Apology accepted. I should not have attacked you.”

Leorio shrugs, his jacket creaking with the movement. “Eh, I have plenty of experience stitching myself up. Still,” and he hoists himself upright before lowering the ladder into the bay, saying, “You might as well come on up here now. I got your room set up, and we still need to talk about this blockade you’re trying to run.”

Kurapika scales the ladder with a quickness that makes Leorio think that they could have gotten out anytime they wanted to.

“There is no need for you to go out of your way for this,” Kurapika says.

Leorio looks at them, slight and holding themself like they’re expecting a blow, thinks of how he found them in a piece of his cargo like a piece of meat to be sold to the highest bidder. The taste of dust and sickness rests heavy on the back of his tongue, and he swallows, looking away. “There really is.”

Another ripple of light. Kurapika tilts their head. “If you say so.”

Kurapika moves fluidly through the ship, none of the disorientation that Leorio expects from planet-siders present in their limbs. Leorio keeps stealing glances at them through the corners of his eyes. Kurapika comes up barely to his chin, faint markings visible on their skin when they’re glowing and invisible otherwise, retreating back to an even brown that appears to be their typical skin color. Their eyes glow too. Leorio is not going to easily forget the sight of burning red eyes over him.

He shifts, breathing out through his nose. He’s having some trouble forgetting the feel of Kurapika’s body over his too, knees on either side of Leorio’s hips, and if that’s not a sign that Leorio has been in space too long, he doesn’t know what is.

But Kurapika is almost pretty, and it’s not like Leorio has discriminating tastes. Leorio likes his partners enthusiastic and willing and doesn’t usually spare a thought to what he might find when they get between his legs, as long as they’re a species that has sex for pleasure.

“Leorio,” Kurapika says-

-right as Leorio forgets to duck on his way into the cockpit, slamming his forehead into the metal.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Leorio groans, clutching his head.

There’s a shift by his side. Kurapika leans over to look up at him, grey eyes curious. Solemnly, amusement dancing around their features, they say, “That’s a bad word.”

“Yeah, yeah, it is.” Grumbling, Leorio enters the cockpit, remembering to duck this time, and he flops into the chair before swiveling, watching Kurapika take a seat beside him. “Alright. Run me through this. What are we doing, and why?”

“I need to free my people,” Kurapika says, spreading their hands across the ship’s controls. “I need to free my planet. And for that, I need your help.”

Leorio leans forward. “Tell me what I need to do, then.”


End file.
